Opening mechanism for coplanar doors with combined movement

ABSTRACT

An opening mechanism ( 1 ) includes a longitudinal guide ( 3 ) fixed to the frame of a furniture unit and, for each door ( 2 ), a first slide ( 4 ) sliding along the longitudinal guide ( 3 ), a second slide ( 5 ) which carries the door ( 2 ) and which slides transversally on the first slide ( 4 ) from a retracted position to an extracted position and vice versa and return elements to bring the second slide ( 5 ) back to the retracted position. The second slide ( 5 ) is able to rotate with respect to the first slide ( 4 ) and presents a curved space ( 8 ) in which guide elements ( 7 ), integral with the first slide ( 4 ). The first slide ( 4 ) further includes holding elements ( 10 ), controlled by a control surface ( 51 ) situated in the longitudinal guide ( 3 ), able to lock the second slide ( 5 ) in the extracted position when the door ( 2 ) is open to prevent the second slide ( 5 ) from being brought back to the retracted position by the return elements.

The present invention refers to the field of the furniture so-calledhaving coplanar doors with a combined movement—in which the opening ofthe doors is carried out by making the doors slide one over theother—and in particular to furniture (more in general, to the spaces orthe openings to be closed with doors) in which, for aesthetic reasons,the closed doors are placed close alongside each other so as to presenta viewer with the most continuous surface possible.

In order to open one of the doors it is therefore necessary to disengageit from the adjacent door (or from the adjacent doors) causing them toperform a movement substantially perpendicular to its plane beforemaking it slide parallel to itself to place it over the adjacent door(or over one of the adjacent doors).

Opening mechanisms able to cause a door to perform such a doublemovement are known to the art and widely used: one of such openingmechanisms is disclosed, purely by way of non limiting example, inEuropean Patent No. 823 527.

The opening mechanisms of the prior art essentially comprise alongitudinal guide (normally an extruded section) fixed to the frame ofthe furniture unit and, for each door, at least one assembly comprisinga first slide sliding along the guide, a second slide slidingtransversally on the first slide from a resting (retracted) position toa working (extracted) position, deflector means (normally consisting ofa guide bent at 90°, fixed to the bottom of longitudinal guide) to bringthe second slide from the resting position to the working position (andvice versa) and return means to bring the second slide back to theresting position.

The second slide carries the door, is brought into to the workingposition by an appendix thereof which engages in the deflector means, iskept in the working position by said appendix which engages in alongitudinal track formed in the guide and, when it is in the extractedposition, translates along the longitudinal guide together with thefirst slide.

In order to apply the deflector means to the longitudinal guide, it isnecessary to remove a portion of the above mentioned track by amechanical process which increases the production times and costs of theopening mechanism.

Furthermore, the opening mechanisms of the prior art have (or can have)the additional drawback that their length must be correlated to that ofthe door: it is therefore necessary to produce (and to stock) openingmechanisms of different lengths to manage the opening/closing of doorsof different lengths, with obvious increases in the costs of production,of stock management, etc.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Object of the present invention is to produce an opening mechanism forcoplanar doors with a combined movement that is free from the limits andthe drawbacks presented by the opening mechanisms of the prior art; thisobject is achieved with an opening mechanism that has thecharacteristics set out in independent claim 1.

Further advantageous characteristics of the invention form the subjectmatter of the dependent claims.

An opening mechanism realized according to the invention differs from anopening mechanism of the prior art essentially in that the second slidecan rotate with respect to the first slide around a pin integral withthe first slide and presents a curved space (henceforth called a “cam”),wherein guide means integral with the first slide is received.

The opening mechanism preferably further comprises holding means,controlled by a control surface situated on the bottom of the guidealong which the opening mechanism slides, which lock the second slide inan extracted position, preventing it from being brought back into theretracted position by return means belonging to the opening mechanism.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be now described with reference to an exemplifyingbut non limiting embodiment, described in the appended figures, wherein:

FIGS. 1 to 4 show diagrammatically four top views of an openingmechanism while the door passes from the closed position (FIG. 1) to theopen position (FIG. 4);

FIGS. 1A to 4A show enlarged views of the second slide of the openingmechanism in each of FIGS. 1 to 4 and the position on the cam of thesecond slide of the guide means of the first slide;

FIG. 5 shows diagrammatically a perspective bottom view of an openingmechanism;

FIG. 6 shows diagrammatically a front view of a mechanism according tothe invention, with the second slide engaged by the holding meanscarried by the first slide;

FIG. 7 shows diagrammatically the mechanism of FIG. 6 with the secondslide released by the holding means;

FIG. 8 shows diagrammatically a top view of a door carried by the twoopening devices realized according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the appended figures, corresponding elements will be designated bythe same reference numerals.

FIGS. 1 to 4 show diagrammatically four top views of an openingmechanism 1 while the door 2 passes from the closed position (FIG. 1) tothe open position (FIG. 4), in which the door 2 is disengaged from theadjacent door and the opening mechanism 1 can translate along thelongitudinal guide 3.

FIGS. 1A to 4A show an enlarged view of the second slide 5 of theopening mechanism 1 in each of the FIGS. 1 to 4 and the position in thecam 8 of the second slide 5 of the guide means 7 integral with the firstslide 4, not visible because it is covered by the second slide 5.

FIG. 1 shows the door 2 in the closed position, that is, aligned withthe adjacent door 2′: the second slide 5 is positioned over the firstslide 4 and, as can be seen better from FIG. 1A, the guide means 7 areat one end of the cam 8 formed in the second slide 5.

Also visible in FIG. 1 is a surface 51, placed on the bottom of thelongitudinal guide 3 at the position occupied by the opening mechanism 1when the door 2 is closed, which controls holding means 10, as will bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 5-7.

As in the opening mechanisms of the prior art, on the bottom of thelongitudinal guide 3 there are deflector means 40 (FIGS. 4 and 8) inwhich an appendix 53 (FIG. 5) of the second slide 5 engages to bring itfrom the retracted position to the extracted position and vice versa.

Since, as can be seen from FIGS. 1 to 4 and 8, the tracks present in thelongitudinal guides of the opening devices of the prior art are notpresent inside the longitudinal guide 3, it is possible to apply thedeflector means 40 (FIGS. 4 and 8) and the controlling surface 51 of theholding means 10 to the bottom of the longitudinal guide 3 withouthaving to carry out mechanical processes.

FIG. 2 shows a first step of the opening of the door 2, in which theappendix 53, engaged in the deflector means 40, has caused the secondslide 5 to translate with respect to the first slide 4 and, at the sametime, to rotate around the pin 11 by the movement in the cam 8 of theguide means 7 which, as can be seen better from FIG. 2A, are no longersituated at one end of said cam.

FIG. 3 shows a subsequent step of the opening of the door 2, in whichthe second slide 5 has been made to translate further with respect tothe first slide 4 by the appendix 53 engaged in the deflector means 40and has been made to rotate around the pin 11 by the further movement ofthe guide means 7 in the cam 8, disengaging from the adjacent door 2′.In FIG. 3A the new position of the guide means 7 in the cam 8 can beseen better.

The appendix 53 and the deflector means 40 are not visible in FIGS. 2and 3 because they are covered by the opening mechanism 1.

FIG. 4 shows the door 2 in the completely open position, disengaged fromthe adjacent door 2′: when the second slide 5 reaches the extractedposition, the door 2 is parallel to the longitudinal guide 3 and to theadjacent door 2′ and the opening mechanism 1 can translate along theguide 3.

For greater clarity of the description, in FIG. 4 the numeral 100indicates the course of the inner edge of the door 2, adjacent the door2′, when the door 2 passes from the closed position to the open positionand vice versa.

From FIG. 4A it can be seen better that the guide means 7 are situatedat the end of the cam 8 opposite to that in which they were situatedwhen the door 2 was in the closed position (FIG. 1).

Furthermore, in the appended figures, the opening mechanism 1 is appliedto the door 2 in an off-centre position with respect to the midline ofsaid door, rather than at the centre of the door, as normally occurs inan opening mechanism of the prior art.

This off-centre position of the opening mechanism 1 allows a better“stacking” of the doors one over the other and allows the openingmechanism 1 to act also as a hinge for the door 2 during its opening (orclosing) step, when the door 2 disengages from the adjacent door 2′ bymeans of a movement of rotation around the opening mechanism 1, beforereturning parallel to the longitudinal guide 3 (FIG. 4).

FIG. 5 shows diagrammatically a perspective bottom view of an openingmechanism 1, in which can be seen the guide means 7 integral with thefirst slide 4, the cam 8 formed in the second slide 5 and the means 10which, when the door 2 is open, hold the second slide 5 in the extractedposition.

These holding means 10, which can be seen better in FIGS. 6 and 7,comprise a lever 101, hinged to the bottom part of the first slide 4 andurged by a spring (omitted in FIGS. 5-7), and stop means 61 integralwith the second slide 5: an end 102 of the lever 101 slides on thecontrol surface 51 and on the bottom of the longitudinal guide 3,whereas the other end 103 of the lever 101 can engage with the stopmeans 61 when the second slide 5 has reached the extracted position(FIG. 6).

The end 103 of the lever 101 keeps the second slide 5 in the extractedposition until it is disengaged from the stop means 61 by the action ofthe controlling surface 51 on the end 102 of the lever 101 (FIG. 7).

FIG. 6 shows diagrammatically a front view of an opening mechanism 1 inwhich the stop means 61 of the second slide 5 are engaged in the holdingmeans 10 carried by the first slide 4 and controlled by the controllingsurface 51, which comprises a flat area 54 raised with respect to thebottom of the guide 3 to which it is joined by an inclined area 52.

FIG. 7 shows diagrammatically the mechanism of FIG. 6 with the secondslide 5 released by the holding means 10.

When the door 2 is open, the end 102 of the lever 101 rests on thebottom of the guide 3 and the end 103 of the lever 101, urged by thespring, engages in the stop means 61 (FIG. 6); when the door 2 isclosed, the end 102 of the lever 101 rests on the flat, raised area 54causing the lowering of the end 103 of the lever 101 which disengagesfrom the stop means 61 (FIG. 7).

FIG. 6 shows the mechanism 1 at the end of the opening of the door 2 orat the beginning of the closing thereof, when the end 102 of the lever101 rests on the inclined area 52 and the end 103 of the lever 101 isengaging/disengaging from the stop means 61.

Without departing from the scope of the invention, it is possible toomit the holding means 10 and the control surface 51, which, however,must be replaced by the track present in the longitudinal guides of theopening devices of the prior art to hold the second slide in theextracted position.

FIG. 8 shows diagrammatically a top view of a door 2 carried by twoopening devices (1, 1′); in FIG. 8 two control surfaces (51, 51′) arevisible, each controlling the holding means of one of the openingdevices (1, 1′).

The use of a second opening mechanism 1′ when the door 2 is too long tobe carried by a single device 1 positioned at one end thereof isadvantageous because it avoids having to produce and to stock openingmechanisms of different lengths; furthermore it reduces the stressesinduced on the opening mechanism 1 by the weight of the door 2 and makesthe movement of the door 2 more stable.

Without departing from the scope of the invention, the second openingmechanism 1′ comprises the holding means 10, but it does not comprisethe cam 8 and the related guide means 7.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An opening mechanism (1) for coplanar doorswith a combined movement, comprising: a longitudinal guide (3) fixed toa frame of a furniture unit; a first slide (4) slidable along thelongitudinal guide (3); and a second slide (5) slidable transversally onthe first slide (4) from a retracted position to an extracted positionand vice versa, the second slide (5) configured to carry a door (2) and,when in the extracted position, to translate along the longitudinalguide (3) together with the first slide (4), wherein the second slide(5) is further configured to rotate with respect to the first slide (4)around a pin (11) integral with the first slide (4), wherein the firstslide (4) comprises a guide means (7) integral with the first slide (4),and the second slide (5) presents a curved space (8) in which the guidemeans (7) is received, and wherein the first slide (4) further comprisesholding means (10) controlled by a control surface (51) situated on abottom of the longitudinal guide (3) at a position occupied by theopening mechanism (1) when the door (2) is closed, the holding means(10) configured to lock the second slide (5) in the extracted positionand prevent the second slide (5) from being brought back into theretracted position.
 2. The opening mechanism (1) as claimed in claim 1,wherein, when the second slide (5) is in the extracted position, thedoor (2) is parallel to the longitudinal guide (3) and to an adjacentdoor (2′).
 3. The opening mechanism (1) as claimed in claim 1, whereinthe holding means (10) comprise a lever (101), hinged to a bottom partof the first slide (4) and urged by a spring, and stop means (61)integral with the second slide (5), an end (102) of the lever (101)sliding on the control surface (51) and on the bottom of thelongitudinal guide (3), and an other end (103) of the lever (101)engaging with the stop means (61) when the second slide (5) is in theextracted position.
 4. The opening mechanism (1) as claimed in claim 3,wherein the control surface (51) comprises a flat area (54) raised withrespect to the bottom of the longitudinal guide (3) to which it isjoined by an inclined area (52).
 5. The opening mechanism (1) as claimedin claim 4, wherein, when the door (2) is open, the end (102) of thelever (101) rests on the bottom of the longitudinal guide (3) and theother end (103) of the lever (101), urged by the spring, engages in thestop means (61), and wherein, when the door (2) is closed, the end (102)of the lever (101) rests on the raised flat area (54), causing thelowering of the other end (103) of the lever (101), which disengagesfrom the stop means (61).
 6. The opening mechanism (1) as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the first and second slides are configured to beapplied to the door (2) in an off-centre position with respect to amidline of said door (2).
 7. The opening mechanism (1) as claimed inclaim 6, wherein the first and second slides are configured to functionas a hinge for the door (2) during an opening or a closing thereof. 8.The opening mechanism (1) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controlsurface (51) comprises a flat area (54) raised with respect to thebottom of the longitudinal guide (3) to which it is joined by aninclined area (52).